Kamala Harris has emerged victorious in the Oregon election, securing the state’s eight Electoral College votes for the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.
In the previous election cycle of 2020, Joe Biden captured Oregon with 57% of the votes compared to Donald Trump’s 40%. Similarly, in 2016, Hillary Clinton won the state with 52% against Trump’s 41%.
As a consistently Democratic stronghold in presidential elections, the Democratic Party also holds the governorship and both houses of the state Legislature in Oregon.
To win the presidency, a candidate needs to achieve 270 electoral votes. Experts predict that the highly competitive presidential race will hinge on a few critical battleground states.
The following is a breakdown of states won by each candidate, along with their respective electoral vote totals, based on projections from various U.S. media outlets, including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC, and CBS.
Learn more about the 2024 U.S. Election
In the U.S., a candidate does not become president by obtaining a simple majority of the national popular vote. Instead, they must navigate a system known as the Electoral College, which allocates electoral votes to the 50 states and the District of Columbia primarily according to their populations.
Here are some critical rules that may influence the contest on November 5 between Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
UNDERSTANDING THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
When voters cast their ballots for president, they are commonly selecting the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates. However, what they are actually voting for is a designated group of electors.
The Electoral College consists of a total of 538 electors, meaning that a candidate needs at least 270 votes to claim victory.
Typically, electors are loyal to their parties and commit to backing the candidate who garners the most votes in their state. Each elector effectively represents one vote in the Electoral College system. In 2020, President Biden secured 306 electoral votes, defeating Trump, who received 232 votes.
ABOUT DONALD TRUMP
Donald Trump, the 78-year-old Republican candidate, has faced two assassination attempts, narrowly escaping one. This occurs in the aftermath of a New York jury convicting him of a felony, making him the first former U.S. president to face such a charge.
ABOUT KAMALA HARRIS
Vice President Kamala Harris, aged 60, rose to lead the Democratic ticket in July, positioning herself to potentially become the first woman to hold the nation’s highest office. This came after President Biden, 81, experienced a challenging debate performance and subsequently withdrew his reelection campaign under party pressure.
Despite the surrounding chaos, the fundamental dynamics of the race largely remain unchanged. Polls indicate a neck-and-neck race between Harris and Trump, both nationally and in battleground states. With over 77 million ballots cast, the next couple of days will be crucial in determining which campaign excels in mobilizing supporters to vote.
Both Democratic and Republican voters have set record participation levels in the last two presidential elections, highlighting the intense fervor surrounding Trump’s candidacy across party lines.
As the campaign enters its final stretch, both sides are inundating social media and traditional advertising platforms with their messaging, while also intensifying door-to-door efforts and phone banking.
Harris’ campaign team believes that the scale of their voter engagement initiatives is making a significant impact. They reported that volunteers knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors in battleground states over the weekend. “We’re feeling very good about where we stand,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon shared with reporters.
The campaign’s internal data suggests that undecided voters, particularly women in key battleground states, are leaning toward them, along with an increase in early voting among their core supporters, including younger voters and voters of color.
On the other hand, Trump’s campaign also boasts its own canvassing initiatives but has largely outsourced these efforts to independent super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited funds.
Trump’s campaign is focusing its outreach on “low propensity” voters—those who typically do not participate in elections—rather than attempting to sway moderate voters who could lean toward either side.
